Surviving Mexico

May 3, 2022 · 6:25 am

Natural Healing — Pericón

Tagetes lucida Photo credit: Dick Culbert

Pericón (Tagetes lucida) is also known as, hierbanís, cuchrucumín, flor de Santa María, hierba añil, periquillo, yerbanís, Mexican tarragon in English, yauhtli in Nahuatl, and Naná uarhi in Purépecha. It is native to Mexico and in the same family as the more well-known cempasúchil (Tagetes erecta). The Aztecs used it in cooking, as medicine, and in rituals. It was an ingredient to the sacred drink chocolatl and still added to chayote and elotes (boiled corn ears) for flavoring. As it was considered holy to Tlaloc, the rain god, it was rubbed on the chest to ensure safety before crossing a river. It was closely associated with the harvest because it is found after the first rains of the season and blooms around the time the corn is ready to harvest.

After the conquest, pericón became associated with San Miguel (Michael the Archangel). In many areas, it is customary to place crosses made from the plant in each corner of la milpa (cornfield) and on doors to homes and businesses on September 28 to invoke the protection of San Miguel as part of the periconeada (also known as la Fiesta del Pericón) ceremony. September 29 is the feast day of the three archangels, Gabriel, Raphael, and Michael.

Medicinally, pericón is prescribed as a tonic for diarrhea, empacho (indigestion), asthma, colds, rheumatism, susto (a nervous disorder), and to regulate menstruation in Mexico.

An infusion for stuffy noses is made with a handful of leaves in a quart of water. Another tea for fever includes the stems, leaves, and flowers. Dried plants are often burned to keep flies and mosquitoes away from an area.

Pericón has anti-inflammatory, antihypertensive, antispasmodic, antidiarrheal, antifungal, antibacterial, antioxidant, antimicrobial, antinociceptive, antidepressant, and sedative-like properties. These components support its traditional use for some nervous and digestive disorders. Additionally, it is a potent hepatoprotective and effective against Streptococcus pyogenes respiratory diseases.

Note: The name hierba anís is used for three related plants, Tagetes lucida, Tagetes filifolia, and Tagetes micrantha in different areas of Mexico. Be sure to positively identify the plant before use.

Pericón Infusion for Stuffy Nose

3-5 tablespoons of pericón leaves

Simmer the leaves in a quart of water. Allow it to steep for 10 minutes. Strain and sip throughout the day to alleviate a stuffy nose.

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Interested in health? Learn traditional Mexican plant remedies used today for wellness in the Exploring Traditional Herbal Remedies in Mexico series. Now available on Amazon!

Job Hunting Ain’t What It Used To Be — Part 1

I’ve been struggling with finding online work for about a month now, and I’ve discovered that job hunting ain’t what it used to be. I thought I’d share my efforts.

First, how did I come to be suddenly unemployed? Well, the first week of March, the online teaching company that I have been working for since 2016 informed me that even though I have a contract until May, I would need to transition to a company based in Hong Kong if I wanted to keep working for them.

When I received the notification, the ridiculousness of the new company’s name prompted me to send in an inquiry to verify it was legitimate. It was. Then I sent another query to clarify the information. Since I teach from Mexico, the company I work for classified me as an international contractor. I was informed that all international contractors must make the transition before the end of March. The contract I had with them that was valid until May would not be honored.

I did not feel that the transition was in my best interest. After all, last year, without any warning, the Chinese government closed ALL online teaching platforms that hired teachers outside of China, leaving thousands of digital nomads scrambling to find another source of income. There’s also the state of the world at the moment. The dominant world powers, including China, are poised for some major changes. I did not want my livelihood so dependent on that.

I realized that the schools that I’ve been setting up on Teachable wouldn’t be income generating for another six months or more, so I’d have to find another source of income in the meantime. I literally took a page out of my own book (A Woman’s Guide to Making a Living in Rural Mexico: How to Find A Job and Create the Life You Want) and started looking.

I applied at three online teaching/tutoring platforms the day I got the notification of the looming transition, Cambly, italki, and Wyzant. I also set up an alert on Indeed for teaching jobs and polished up my resume.

Cambly and Italki needed an intro video even before they considered my application. The room that I teach in is quite dark, so I moved everything upstairs and had my son help me with the microphone and setup. After about an hour, I managed to make two one-minute videos.

Cambly responded by telling me the video was too dark. So I spent several more hours giving it another go. My poor son had to hold the blue screen behind me, take after take. The video was rejected again. I gave it one more go. This time I took down the blue screen and recorded the video with just the cream wall behind me. Personally, I thought the blue screen recording was better, but I didn’t know what else to try. To avoid seeing the bed in the room that is normally hidden behind the blue screen, I sat on a book so I’d be higher and could tilt the camera up. I thought if a pillow helped my mom see out the front windshield of her car, the same trick would work in this situation.

I also decided to try for Cambly kids. That application required doing a teaching demo. So I taught shapes and colors as if I were teaching to an imaginary 7-year-old student that I called Diego. I’ve taught so many kids’ classes that it wasn’t too hard. The demo class was over 7 minutes, but I only did one take. I used Canva to share both the screen and my head in a floating bubble. I’m still waiting to hear back from Cambly.

Meanwhile, Wzyent approved my application to tutor through their site. You can see my profile here. The process is a bit different than I’m used to. Potential students post to a job board, and I need to express my interest in working with them. They, in turn, will check out my profile and give me the yea or nay.

However, the first potential student wasn’t allowed by Wzyent, probably because the person wanted to meet outside of the platform. So that was a bummer. The second student expressed interest but never followed through. The third student set up a lesson for which he failed to appear and canceled the subsequent lesson. So Wzyent isn’t going so well. They offer FREE tutoring if you use this link to book a lesson with me, but I’m not really sure how that works.

Italki expected a professional quality video. One of the video examples was from this Italian dude, some of which was filmed while he was walking around the streets of Italy. While I could certainly walk around Moroleon and add that section to a video, the camera on my phone wasn’t very good quality. So I worked with what I had.

My first attempt was rejected due to the low-quality recording. So I ordered a new webcam. When it arrived, I tried again. Italki declined my application anyway. But now I had a new camera, and maybe it would increase the odds in my favor.

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April 22, 2022 · 6:41 am

La Yacata is Sometimes More Interesting than TV

Things have been rather blase here in La Yacata. Not a lot going on. However, on Sábado de Gloria this year, we were treated to an episode nearly as exciting as “Cops.”

The day started out ho-hum enough. We had some chicken soup culled from our flock. This one happened to be an egg eater, and you know, once an egg-eater, always an egg-eater. So it had to go. My husband was having a high time cooking with his barrel grill (it’s literally just a barrel with a hole cut in the side to add the wood).

Anyway, as I was getting ready to go on my daily swim, my husband called me over to the back porch. It turned out that someone had started a fire and the entire section of La Yacata behind the house was on fire. That someone most likely belonged to the crew that had a late-night party on the lot with a “pool” and pavilion area. Perhaps trying to clean up, they lit a fire that quickly got out of hand. It is the dry season, after all.

The blaze was enormous and fast. It moved along the lots at a breakneck pace. Then it hit the lot where the owner had piled up about 100 tires, and the neighbor had been dumping his cow poop, and man, did it ever gobble those up. Clouds of billowing black smoke covered the sky.

The black smoke was enough to alert someone from town who sent Protección Civil. They arrived first, followed by the police. The third to arrive was the fire truck. When they saw that it was now a tire blaze, they set to work.

Or, more accurately, they sent a woman to do a man’s job. You know, it’s all about equal opportunity and all. Although it may have something to do with the fact they only have one firesuit, and most of the firemen’s bellies were too big to fit in it.

So anywhere, here’s this girl that weighed maybe 100 pounds soaking wet out there in the field with the fire hose battling the blaze. The buff police officers were busy taking videos. The other firemen were still sitting in the truck.

A few other police vehicles arrived, and even more officers with bulging biceps were milling about. A second fire truck arrived. The new man they sent out into the flames was at least 70 if he was a day. The second truck had some hooks that the fire guys started to use to move the tires out of the way, but it was mostly too late. I saw a few consider using their wet mops to beat out the fire, but I guess they figured it would have to burn itself out.

The fire continued on up the road and up the hill, at least a mile. Eventually, the fun was over, and everyone left. I went out for my swim finally.

Although the fire was put out, those piles of cow poop continued to smolder overnight. The air quality was horrendous the next day and the next. We did make the local news site, so there’s that!

Maybe La Yacata needs a theme song….

Bad boys, bad boys, whatcha gonna do? Whatcha gonna do when they come for you?